Reminiscing in the Rain
by Ari Eli
Summary: Oneshot. Auron remembers how Tidus had once had the same fear that Rikku did, and how he had cured it using the boy's ironic hate. R&R! Hints of Aurikku don't like the pairing, don't read the fic. Don't say you weren't warned.


**Reminiscing in the Rain**

Personal defense: I was bored, I love Auron, I love Aurikku, it was raining outside, and I felt like I absolutely HAD to write something. Enjoy!

**As the summary says, there's hints of Aurikku, so if you don't like the pairing, don't read the fic. Don't say I didn't warn you.**

Disclaimer: Huh? Well of course I own FFX! It's in my ps2 in my room—Wait, you mean the _idea?_ No, I don't own that, silly. That's Square-Enix's.

---

Auron first felt a small, wet droplet on his bound hand, then a cold and unforgiving one managed to find its way to the back of his neck. More soon began to pelt his shoulders and he glanced up at the grey sky, into the newborn rain.

The others were no doubt moaning in complaint as they quickly gathered their belongings, tearing the camp apart in their haste. He had known that the rain was coming before anyone else simply by the way the air had felt. Hours before, in fact—the air had been so dry lately that he could almost hear the earth rejoicing.

He sighed and flipped off his sunglasses to slip them inside his soon-to-be drenched coat, running a hand through his hair. Contrary to popular belief, he hated quiet. Well, if you counted the tapping of each individual raindrop meeting a painful end on the dirt "quiet." Though silence did have its advantages now and then. Like now, for instance. Talking to the others would only result in

A: a seriously burnt/ shocked/ frozen backside from their inexplicably hormonal mage,

B: queries about his past that gave him headaches to refuse to answer, or

C: a shivering Al Bhed begging him to either rest somewhere or move quickly to get away from the thunder that this storm was sure to bring.

Thunder clapped overhead and the very girl screamed; instantly he knew that the latter was coming first. And last, hopefully. Lately, for some reason the girl almost always became overly friendly to him under a thunderstorm, but _always_ shrank away from him as though he were the most frightening thing in all of Spira during the times when blue skies shined overhead. It was ironic how he had always thought that people would be more afraid of him when he was covered in shadows. But then again, the shadows covered his scar.

Either way, her antics toward him, the "big legendary ice cube meanie who eats children," were amusing to say the least.

He tipped his face to the sky completely now, taking advantage of the peaceful moment he'd just found, a moment where neither his heart nor mind were in turmoil. Of course, they would both just return to chaos if he kept his thoughts on the others. Sin…Jecht was so close. The party had made an agreement to forge their ultimate weapons before going off to fight their last battle, only because Jecht was showing some control and staying away from people.

Thunder boomed and Rikku squealed, and a thousand memories flooded Auron's head, most being of events that were fairly recent. But then a distant one floated to the top, and he blinked, remembering something he had completely forgotten. Resisting the urge to give a small laugh, he replayed the scenario in his mind's eye.

---

It had been nighttime, during a storm much like what the one he was enduring now was going to progress into. The boathouse— Tidus's boathouse, it was his now that his mother had passed on— went pitch black with the temporary power outage that suddenly swept over Zanarkand in a split second, wiping out most of the city lights. Immediately the important buildings further in kicked back to life with their reserve power, but the minor houses such as theirs stayed lifeless. Auron blinked as his vision adjusted, and his heart skipped a beat when he heard Tidus scream from the front room. Had the kid hurt himself trying to find his way around? Perhaps he had tripped. Auron slowly made his way to the room, being careful not to trip, himself. Why hadn't _their_ reserve power kicked in yet?

He found little Tidus in the corner curled up into a shivering ball. As far away from the window as possible, he noticed. He looked up as Auron approached.

"What do you want?" Tidus asked as the warrior kneeled next to him.

"It is only a power failure," Auron assured him. "No need to be frightened."

Tidus shivered. "That's not it," he said, suddenly giving another wordless cry. For a moment Auron froze, completely confused. That is, until he recalled what had come _before_ the cry— a clap of thunder. His eyebrow rose as everything registered.

"You are…afraid of thunder?"

The boy whimpered in response, confirming his suspicions. He sighed, turning to sit down and lean on the wall next to him.

"You gonna make fun of me now?" Tidus challenged, and he realized that he really meant it.

"Of course not."

"Yeah? Well dad always did."

"I'm not like Jecht. I would never try to take his place, either."

"You had better not, you hear me? I hate my old man, I hate him I hate him I hate him, and if you do that then I'll hate you too."

"Fair enough."

Tidus fell silent; at least until there was another deafening clap of thunder at which he screamed yet again, drawing his legs closer to curl tighter into that little ball. Auron pitied him. He knew that as a child it was hard to get over little fears like this unless you truly had motivation, even though he himself had had no outstanding fears when he was small. Motivation…he suddenly had an idea.

"You could imagine that the storm is your father," Auron suggested, almost laughing at the absurdity of it, "And that every bolt of lighting, every clap of thunder is a blow, a goal against you."

Tidus looked up at him like he was crazy. "Well how am I supposed to fight back??"

This time Auron did give the smallest laugh. "If none of the blows faze you, if they have no effect, then eventually your attacker has to stop."

Little Tidus blinked a few times before slowly standing up and walking over to the window to stare outside. His brows drew together in concentration, and Auron watched with interest as thunder boomed once again but the boy only flinched. Again, and he only blinked. Again, and…nothing. Auron smiled. He could grasp this…this parenting business; he just needed time. Again, and Tidus grinned triumphantly to him.

"Wish my old man could see _this_."

Jecht. _Sin_.

Auron winced, and the memory was torn away from him.

---

Auron winced as the familiar chaos erupted in his heart and mind, feeling like someone had taken a poisoned dagger and stabbed him straight through the heart while casting a flare spell inside his skull. Shoot. Well, he had let his mind wander, and now he would suffer the consequences.

---

Rikku helped Tidus quickly roll up his sleeping bag, eager to be on her way to outrun the storm. It was then that she noticed Auron standing at the edge of the clearing, face upturned to the sky, eyes closed. He actually looked…_peaceful_ for once. Her breath caught. Someone really ought to do the world a favor and drape a sign around his neck saying "CAUTION: sexy when wet."

Suddenly the man jerked his gaze to the ground, a pained look on his face. Rikku glanced back at the others and decided that they could handle the rest themselves, turning to trot over to him.

---

Auron stiffened as he felt a small someone crash into his back and wrap their arms around his waist in a hug. He didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.

"Ya know what you need?" Rikku asked into his back. "A hug! Hugs make everything better. And don't even think about turning around and giving me that one-eyed stare of doom."

That was exactly what he had been about to do. Instead he turned his head so that he could see most of the girl. "Rikku."

"Now see? You did it! The evil eye!"

Auron grunted, turning back around, suddenly noticing that the stabbing pain in his chest had disappeared. He immediately dismissed the cause to be the fact that he had company now.

"You're always frowning you know, you big meanie."

"And you're always smiling."

"But you were smiling just now," Rikku said. "It was small, but it was th-"

Lightning struck deafeningly nearby, and she screamed. Just like Tidus used to…

"Rikku," Auron began, "Do you have someone you hate?"

She looked up at him, smiling as usual. "Yeah," she said. "You, duh."

The trick wouldn't work with _that_ example. He chuckled, and for some reason it was very hard to believe her statement to be true.

------

FIN!

I wrote this because I was bored, and I suddenly had the idea of "what if Tidus had been afraid of thunder when he was little?" I imagined how Auron would try to calm little Tidus down, or if he would try at all, and I came up with this. And being the Aurikku freak that I am, I just had to add hints. Plus I'm a little depressed for some reason, though I have no idea how that would contribute to this.

Review and Favorite, the usual works. OkiIluffyoubuhbye!

-Ari Elisianete


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